Seven games into the SU basketball season, few are happy with the way things have gone.

Jim Boeheim described Scoop Jardine’s play as ‚Äúhorrible‚Äù and said Scoop couldn‚Äôt have played any worse against Cornell. Jardine agreed.

Rick Jackson, who put together his sixth double-double against the Big Red, when asked after the game if Coach Boeheim was pleased with anything from that game said, “No.”

Okay then. Looks like there’s still a lot of work to be done.

It’s clear, the only way for this team to snap out of this funk (one good half and one bad half, playing down to the competition, putting the burden on Rick Jackson‚Äôs shoulders) is to lose.

To make this analogy more simple, I present to you the movie John Tucker Must Die.¬†Yes, it’s in fact a chick flick. Yes, I’ve watched it. But I think the analogy is strong (plus the movie‚Äôs not actually that bad!).

Three different girls, who have all been played by Tucker, plot to take him down by setting him up with Kate, the new girl in town.

In our scenario, the three scorned girls will be Michigan, Georgia Tech, and Cornell. Three teams so close to taking down Syracuse, but in the end fell short. They have now recruited the newbie, N.C. State, to try and take down the Orange.

The girls attempt all kinds of tricks which blow up in their faces (taping John on a webcam wearing a thong, which turns into a school-wide male fashion trend).

Michigan and Georgia Tech lured SU to Atlantic City, to use the allure of the casino and the all-powerful Guidette to drag them out of their hotel rooms and onto the boardwalk. The Wolverines lost by three, the Yellow Jackets by four.

Friends in the movie try to intervene, not liking where Kate’s behavior is headed, This will be Cornell. The Big Red say, “Well, let’s just be reasonable here and do things the old fashioned way. We are the second oldest rivals in Syracuse history.” Cornell lost by 20.

Kate and Tucker eventually agree to be friends, as Kate begins to date her lab partner (gotta love high school movies). John ends up with a new girlfriend. They didn’t necessarily defeat him, but did change him.

It’s now up to N.C. State to morph Syracuse into the honest basketball team it should be. SU has not played to a #8 ranking in the country. Boeheim last night:

“You can’t look at this game and who we’re beating, that’s just nonsense and foolishness. It’s how you play, not who you play or who you’re playing. It has nothing to do with anything. You can’t play bad basketball and win games against good teams. We’re playing bad basketball and we’ve been playing bad basketball from the first game until now.”

John Tucker didn’t die, but will SU basketball lose.

Kate put it very well at the end of the movie:

‚ÄúAnd the girl who made John Tucker fall in love? Well, she’s a legend.‚Äù

We’ll know come Saturday whether the Wolfpack will fall into that legend category where teams like LeMoyne and Cleveland State lurk in the dark.

Posted: Mike Couzens